We Grew Back Together
by vampirediva07
Summary: After the horrors of The Hunger Games and the war, Katniss and Peeta move on with their lives. Rated T, but will warn for M chapters.


**A/N: I own nothing from _The Hunger Games_. This is just my musings of what might have happened between the end and the epilogue. Review if you so desire!**

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Sitting in the doorway of the house, I watch the rain fall outside on the pavement. My knees are curled up to my chest and its quiet, but comforting in an odd way. The weather in twelve is always unpredictable at best this time of the year, but sometimes I like the rain. It reminds me of the cycle of new life beginning as the grass is greener after and there are new plants coming up between the soil. Prim loved the rain. When she was little, she would dance in it if Mom and I would let her, just twirling around in circles even if it meant she would get sick later and be chided for not wearing her coat.

Prim.

Her name is like a stab to my heart. It's been five years since she died and five years since the end of the war, but it still feels like yesterday that she was taken from me. Some days are easier than others to cope, but other days are bad…like a nightmare come to life where I can't breathe and relive her death over and over. Those days are fewer and far between now, but no less painful than in the beginning. The nightmares come in waves now, but with Peeta there to help me remember they aren't real, it is a little better. He understands the horrors of my dreams as they mirror his own.

The rain also reminds me of the day I found hope for the first time; the day Peeta threw me the bread in the rain and took a beating from his mother for it. We hadn't eaten in days and him giving me that bread gave me the hope to go on and use the skills my father had taught me to keep me, Prim, and Mom alive. Now he gave me new hope as we found out way back together, growing closer and more comfortable with one another.

Slowly, the people of twelve began to return to rebuild…starting with the homes, the hospital, and Peeta put together the remnants of his family's bakery, reopening it four years after the war ended. Greasy Sae and her granddaughter open the market back up and trading is now made legal.

"You cold?" A voice interrupts my thoughts and I look up to see Peeta standing over me.

I shake my head, "No, I was just watching the rain fall."

"Looks like we'll have a pretty early winter this year," he says as he sits beside me, handing me a piece of bread and some tea.

"I think you're right, but winter is usually a good time to hunt for bigger animals for stews and soups for the cold," I reply, smiling a little.

Hunting has become my pastime again, leading me into the woods where I once sought solace for the life I lived in twelve and to provide for my family. The woods reminded me of my father and the knowledge he taught me, showing me how to survive and live off of the land. Peeta doesn't come with me, but we know that's for the best since he usually scares off the animals. He knows I'm safe there and that it's my place of peace, so he usually makes no objections to me going alone.

"Greasy Sae will want some of the deer you bring in…she makes the best stew in the winter." Peeta's right, she does make the best. Even Haymitch can agree to that and he usually agrees to nothing.

"I'll make sure to get her a big one this year. She knows I always bring in my catch to her first unless it's something I want for us," I laugh. "I'm going to look for a pheasant this next time I go out…invite Haymitch and Effie to dinner, maybe."

Peeta smiles, "They'll like that…well Effie will."

"Haymitch comes when there's food," I tell him, cracking a smile.

Since the war's end, Haymitch had been living next door to me in the Victor's Village. It's a quiet existence, except for the geese he keeps in an outdoor pen. Effie was a frequent visitor until she finally moved in three years ago and married Haymitch, much to no one's surprise but their own. They had a baby last year, a son they decided to name Cinna. Everyone was in agreement that it was a good choice of a name since Cinna meant so much to all of us. Naming him after my stylist was a rebirth of sorts for the man who had given his life for a cause we all believed in, into a little boy with rosy cheeks and blonde curls that knew nothing of that life. Haymitch had sobered up, mostly, but still had his moments like the rest of us when the memories rolled in and the sanity crept away for a while.

"President Paylor sent us a letter," Peeta says, interrupting my thoughts again after a minute, presenting it to me.

I take the letter and steadily open it in my hands. We had not received any mail from the Capitol in months, so it came as a surprise to both of us.

 _Dear Peeta and Katniss,_

 _I hope this letter finds you both well and in good health. Things are well here in the Capitol as we consistently work toward change for the future. In doing so, we also are remembering our past and the shadow of the horrors that we have all faced in the last few years. I am not one to forget those that we have lost, personally, in the strides to change Panem for the better. People like Cinna, Finnick, Boggs, Castor, and Prim, who lost their lives in the fight to make Panem free. And of course, in that remembrance, I also remember each of the tributes that were slain in each of the Hunger Games before we abolished that travesty. This year marks five years since the end of the war and I would like to start a project to commemorate all of the lives lost. The project itself will take many years, but I would like to hold a ceremony at the beginning and the end of the process. I would like to invite you both to be there. It will be held in November, the third weekend. If you decline, I will understand and respect your privacy, but should you accept, please call my personal office and let me know to arrange transportation. I wish you both well._

 _-President Paylor_

Folding the letter back up, I look at Peeta.

"Should we go?" he asks.

"I don't know…" I reply. I had not been back to the Capitol since I was banished to twelve, so it surprised me to get an invite at all. Now that the war was over, there was no need for the Mockingjay anymore since I was merely a symbol for the rebellion to rally behind. A seventeen-year-old who had seen too much already and survived The Hunger Games was the face they picked. But now I was just a girl living in twelve again, pulling the pieces of my life back together, after a war that robbed me of so much more than I could have imagined.

"We could…just to honor the ones that gave their lives," he suggests. Peeta is always the rational thinker of the two of us.

I think about all of the ones that I lost, that Peeta lost…how their lives meant something because of the cause we all fought for. The mine had taken my father, The Games had taken Rue, and the rebellion had cost the lives of Peeta's parents and brothers, countless others in twelve from the firebombing, Cinna, Castor, Finnick, Boggs, innocent men, women and children, and finally my sister. They deserved to be remembered…and I should put aside my own pain to make that happen and see to it that they were represented by someone who cared. But a nagging feeling in my stomach pulled me down as I realized that the Capitol would remind me of the horrors we all faced and still continued to face in our nightmares. Mutts, children killing one another, and bombs…the horrors I faced every night for almost a year after the war and I still saw at least once a week.

"Peeta…if we do this, I want Haymitch and Effie to go with us, if they can," I say, looking to him.

He nods in agreement. "Only seems right."

Haymitch had been our mentor since the first games, but continued to be someone we both looked to for comfort, guidance, and understanding when we woke with the nightmares and lived through the flashbacks. He knew how to calm Peeta during a flashback when I couldn't and knew what to say to calm me down. And Effie…she always had a kind word for us, even if she didn't always say the right things. I wouldn't feel comfortable going to the Capitol without them. But I would do this for her.

For Prim.


End file.
